When a computing device connects to a public network, such as the Internet, the computing device is assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address. The rapid proliferation of personal computing devices has resulted in a demand for a large number of IP addresses. To address this demand, Internet Service Provides (ISPs) may use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to dynamically assign an IP address to a computing device when the computing device initiates a connection to a network of the ISP. When a computing device disconnects from the network, the IP address assigned to the computing device may be reassigned to another computing device.
The Internet uses a domain name system in which human readable domain names (e.g., www.xyz.com) may be resolved to a numerical identifier (e.g., 208.77.188.166) that is associated with an address of a server hosting a website associated with the domain name. Each ISP may use a Domain Name Server (DNS) to resolve a particular domain name to an associated numerical identifier.
For a business XYZ that has an associated website, such as www.xyz.com, when a server that hosts the website is booted or rebooted, the server may be dynamically assigned an IP address. The DNS may be notified of the newly assigned IP address several hours after the server is assigned the IP address because the DNS may be sent periodic updates that include the dynamically assigned IP address. Until the DNS is updated with the dynamically assigned IP address, attempts to reach the website www.xyz.com may be resolved by the DNS to an incorrect (e.g., stale) IP address.